Better
by Decayee
Summary: AU by the means of   Powerful Magic. Slight spoiler.   What if Denna didn't die in the end of Lights?


**Title:** Better **  
><strong>**Pairing:** Denna/Dahlia  
><strong>Rating:<strong> PG  
><strong>Summary:<strong> AU. What if Denna didn't die in the end of lights? What if Dahlia found her?  
><strong>Spoilers:<strong> For 2x08 Light and 2x22 Tears maybe. And you need to have seen them to understand I guess.  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I own nothing.  
><strong>Note:<strong> My first ever completed fic so it's a little rough.

Better

Denna remembered a short conversation with a certain tall wizard. If she recalled correctly he said stupid thing about her changing her ways. About her _wanting_ to change her ways. Her memory was not clear but she was probably, _should have been_, preparing to strike him down for his foolishness when pain struck her instead. Then she fell. It felt like an eternity before she hit the water and her mind went blank.

When she awoke she was convinced she was dead, but surely the underworld couldn't be like this? She was laid in a soft bed in a small room that smelled of flowers. Her clouded vision had trouble making out any details and as a blurry being entered the room, she left.

* * *

><p>The second time she woke to pain and figured that <em>this time<em>, this time she really was gone. But she was in the same bed, in the same room. A brown-haired woman was hovering over her, pressing something to her chest, causing the pain. It was nothing like what the agiel caused, but to Denna's weak body it was like the worst she had ever experienced. She had to fight this. The pain went through her again and it made her back bend. The woman pressed her down into the soft beddings.

"Stop moving or I won't be able to clean the wound!" The woman's clear voice managed to pass through the dizzy fog that was Denna's mind. Wound? What wound? She was Denna, a Mord'sith, and no wound would keep her at bed rest. She made one final attempt at escaping, flipping her arms and legs ever which way but the woman and Denna's own approaching unconsciousness was too strong to beat.

"I like you better when you're oblivious."

Darkness.

* * *

><p>One time she woke up screaming and the woman was swiftly there, taking Denna's feverish body into her arms.<p>

"Shhh" she whispered into the Mord'sith's ear as the blond settled her head on the other woman's shoulder. "You are safe now".

Denna wanted to protest, like this skinny little girl could protect her, like she needed her to?  
>But with her back pressed against the skinny girl's front and with her arms around her she truly did feel safe.<p>

"My name is Dahlia" the brunette whispered as she stroke some of Denna's loose hair from her face. "What's yours?"

"Denna"

* * *

><p>After that she came to more frequently. Sometimes she was alone, but usually Dahlia was right there, sitting in a chair next to the bed. As soon as she noticed Denna's awareness she was by her side, putting a cool hand against her forehead or pressing gentle fingers against the wound. Most of the times Denna tried to push her hands away, uncomfortable with the tender touches. But Dahlia just smiled.<p>

"If you don't let me care for you, you will never get better" she said as she fed her soup with a delighted smirk on her lips.

* * *

><p>When she took to playing with her long blonde hair Denna finally decided to set things straight.<br>Dahlia had settled herself behind Denna, putting her head in her lap. Denna did her share of protesting but they both knew she had grown strong enough to stop it if she really wanted to.

"Don't do that" Denna protested some more.

"Do what?" Dahlia asked with a hidden smile as she softly drew her nails over Denna's scalp.  
>"That, this, all of it. This is not for me; I don't need hair care to heal. You are doing this for you."<p>

Dahlia let out a little puff.

"Well maybe I am, but you are certainly not putting up much of a fight to stop me"

Denna turned her head to face the woman above her with a look she hoped was frightening.

"Do you know who I am? I am a Mord'sith! If I tell you to stop, you stop!"

"Well, you might be a Mord'sith on the outside, but inside you're just a hurt little girl in need of comfort, so shut up and let me do this". Dahlia turned Denna's head back around and started pulling her fingers through golden hair once more.

Soon, really soon, when she had regained her strength, she would stop those hands from ever moving again. That was the only reason she stood up with this, Denna told herself.

* * *

><p>"Do you have a bow, a big knife, or perhaps a sword?" Denna asked as she rampaged around in Dahlia's small cottage.<p>

"And what would you do with those? If you are going hunting for me, to repay me for all I've done, I might just find something for you." Dahlia stood in the middle of the small kitchen, hands on her hips and an implying look on her face.

Denna decided to overlook the not so subtle hint.

"I am going to kill Cara, and Kahlan too. In fact, all of that obnoxiously happy merry band!" Denna's own face turned into a bloodthirsty shadow of itself.

"You are doing what? Why?"

"She shot me! Shot me in the back like some sort of coward. Couldn't even have the decency to looking me in the eye as she tried to take my life. Which she failed to do, I might add…"

"Well I'm not letting you do that." With a stern face Dahlia led Denna back into the bedroom, pushing her back onto the bed before sitting down in the chair.

"Do you know the first thing you said as I brought you in to my house, before you had even opened your eyes?"

"No, how could I, I wasn't exactly alert, was I?" Denna hated being reminded of the vulnerable state she had been in.

"You said, let me be a better person." Dahlia fell back in her chair, crossing her arms as if she expected being attacked, physically or verbally.

"Never" Denna sneered. "Why would I ask to be a better person, when I'm perfectly happy the way I am?"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Dahlia leaned forward again with a peculiar look on her face.

"I'm not calling you a liar, just don't lie to me"

"I would never lie to _you_, you who inspire such good things in me, brings out the very best" Dahlia half-mocked with a grin.

Denna let out an annoyed sound. "Well that's just… You're just… I… Ahh…" Her failed attempt at a comeback only made Dahlia's grin grow wider. At that moment Denna desperately wanted her Agiel so she could press it to the other woman's chest, end the beating her heart and make her stop breathing. Because if Dahlia didn't use up all the air, then Denna wouldn't feel the shortness of it, as she did now and all the other times the brunette came near.

"You wanted to be a better person. Now I don't know what kind of person you where before, but killing this Cara really doesn't sound like something a good person would do. So actually, by stopping you, I'm doing you a favor."

Denna almost laughed at the stupidity of Dahlia's words. Stopping her? Did she really think she had any say in Denna's leaving, she was lucky to still be alive.

"If I want to leave, I'll leave. You can't stop me."

"Oh, I can. If you wanted to leave you would have done so, several days ago." Dahlia smiled at her.  
>Denna felt anger bubbling up inside her, who did this woman think she was? She stood up from the bed and Dahlia rose from her chair.<p>

"And what reason would I have for wanting to stay here?" Denna asked with a voice that was soaked in condescendence.

Dahlia closed the distance between them in just a few short steps.

"You want to be a better person, and with me, you can be."

Then she kissed her, tenderly pressed her lips against Denna's.

Denna wanted to push the brunette away and run for the door for some reason she couldn't and as Dahlia sneaked her arms around her back she felt her own settle at Dahlia's neck.

Maybe this wasn't so bad.

Maybe she could just stay here.

Maybe with Dahlia, she could be better.


End file.
